Page 29 – LIFE

“The Elements of Utopia”: Nina Leen in California, 1945

February 10, 2023February 10, 2023 by Bill Syken

California’s population growth was one of defining trends of 20th-century America. From 1900 to 1950 the population increased 500%, going from two million to ten million. Then things really exploded, and by the year 2000 the state’s population had climbed to 34 million, making California the most populous state in America.

People have been lured west for a variety of reasons, from the gold rush to Hollywood dreams, but beyond riches and fame there has been also the promise of the sunny California lifestyle, one captured by LIFE staff photographer Nina Leen in a piece that ran in the Oct. 22, 1945 issue.

The unreservedly enthusiastic thirteen-page essay was titled “The California Way of Life,” and it’s not hard to imagine that the article affected some readers the way news of gold in Sutter’s Mill did in the 1800s. The story began with these words, which could have come from a state tourist brochure:

Californians live in a land where the sun shines 355 days a year, where the thermometer seldom falls below 46 degrees, and where towering mountains and endless beaches flank a countryside of incredible fertility. Against the background of these unique natural advantages, Californians have evolved a unique way of life which is physically the most comfortable and attractive way of life enjoyed in any region in the U.S.

It’s worth noting that this story came out just a few short months after the end of World War II, a time when readers might thirst for a new beginning. (The issue also included a story an another feel-good imagination-tickler: “victory lingerie.”)

The article rhapsodized about how Californians spent as much time outdoors as they did inside, dressed primarily for comfort, and could enjoy themselves at all income levels. An editor’s note told readers that “this was Nina Leen’s first trip to California,” and it showed in her sense of joy and wonder at these lives lived by the pool.

The story included a section on the California car culture that made “conventional city life almost obsolete,” LIFE said. “Living in a natural paradise where highways connect modern communities and farms with some of the most beautiful scenery in the U.S., the Southern Californian has created a way of life that, on the physical side, has at least some of the elements of Utopia.”

All these years later, LIFE’s view on the joys of driving in Southern California might be the most dated aspect of this story. Visions of Utopia have been replaced by environmental concerns and also by complaints about spending half your life stuck in traffic.

In the 21st century California has slowed its population growth. The total now stands around 39 million, and the numbers even dipped some during the COVID pandemic. The hard truth about Utopias is that they don’t exist (the literal meaning of the word is “no place”). But as Leen’s essay shows, sometimes pictures can make you believe they do.

Women and girls, in convertible at a drive-in, happily greet female car hop, who has just brought their drinks, from a story on California living, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Essay on California living, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

This group drove a Model T that they had souped up with extra carburetors and other devices, California, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A 16-year-old just out of the pool, shot for an essay on California living, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Essay on California living, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The wife of MGM’s musical director painted a portrait of her daughter Carol; the photo was shot for an essay on California living, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Colleciton/Shutterstock

Essay on California living, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Tourists looking at the mountains in Yosemite Valley Park, California, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Essay on California living, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Cars moving along a highway that leads to Lake Arrowhead, California, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Tourists looking at the mountains in Yosemite Valley Park, California, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Customers visiting a drive-in beverage stand, California, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

MGM musical director Herbert Stothart at his Santa Monica home, shot for an essay on California living, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Two young women using a wishing well, California, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Rancher Arthur Campbell watching his daughter riding a horse, California, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A lone wooden chair on hillside overlooking the hazy ruggedness of the Santa Lucia Mountain Range between Carmel and San Simeon, California, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Essay on California living, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A young couple filling their gas tank at a gas station shaped like airplane, California, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Meet the Influential “Rembrandt of Comic Strips”

February 2, 2023February 2, 2023 by Bill Syken

The name of Milton Caniff may not be as familiar to comic fans as that of Jack Kirby, Bob Kane or other artists whose superhero creations still entertain millions. But Caniff, who rose to fame drawing adventure strips in the 1930s and ’40s, was a major influence on the look of action comics—so much so that he earned the nickname ““the Rembrandt of comic strips.” He was so big in his day that when he decided to abandon his hugely popular syndicated adventure strip Terry and the Pirates and start a new one, Steve Canyon, he landed on the cover of Time magazine.

Caniff, whose write-up in The Will Eisner Hall of Fame hails him as a “pioneer” who influenced “generations of artists with his storytelling and chiaroscuro art,” made frequent appearances in the pages of LIFE as well.

A story in the Jan. 6, 1941 issue of LIFE talked about Caniff’s drawings being displayed in New York’s prestigious Julien Levy Gallery. The Mar. 1, 1943 issue had a story on Male Call, the strip Caniff wrote for Army newspapers free of charge during World War II. In the Feb. 3, 1947 issue, Caniff was one of ten cartoonists challenged to draw their signature characters (in his case, Steve Canyon) while blindfolded. Others participating in the challenge included Dick Tracy‘s Chester Gould and Blondie’s Chic Young. (It is telling about the state of the comics back then that not a single artist drew a superhero).

LIFE did assign one big photo shoot on Caniff, with LIFE staff photographer Wallace Kirkland, but it was for an article that never ran. The year was 1947, so it is likely that the event Kirkland photographed was meant to celebrate the launch of Steve Canyon. (Copper Calhoon, who appears in several of the drawings in Kirkland’s photos, was a recurring villainess in Steve Canyon, and very much in keeping with the style of vixen that populated Caniff’s work).

One thing from Kirkland’s photos is plain: how excited his fans were to be in the presence of this artist at work. Look at their outstretched arms and the excitement in their eyes, and you can see the seeds of today’s culture, in which fans flock to comic conventions by the millions for up-close experiences like this one.

Cartoonist Milton Caniff and model appearing before a crowd, 1967.

Wallace Kirkland/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scenes from an appearance by pioneering comics artist Milton Caniff, 1947.

Wallace Kirkland/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scenes from an appearance comic artist Milton Caniff, 1947.

Wallace Kirkland/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scenes from an appearance comic artist Milton Caniff, 1947, the year that he debuted his Steve Canyon comic strip.

Wallace Kirkland/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scenes from an appearance comic artist Milton Caniff, 1947; Copper Calhoun was a character in his Steve Canyon comic strip which launched that year.

Wallace Kirkland/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scenes from an appearance comic artist Milton Caniff, 1947.

Wallace Kirkland/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scenes from an appearance comic artist Milton Caniff, 1947. Copper Calhoun was a character in his Steve Canyon comic strip which launched that year.

Wallace Kirkland/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

LIFE Debuts Digital Jigsaw Puzzles With ZiMAD

January 27, 2023January 27, 2023 by Taylor Gilkison

Content from LIFE becomes available on Jan 25—free for all players!

ZiMAD, a mobile game developer, has announced a partnership with LIFE, the world-renowned magazine. In its first collaboration with a digital puzzle and gaming company, the LIFE Picture Collection will be sharing highlights from its vast and important photographic archive. And Magic Jigsaw Puzzles players will be able to relive the most spectacular moments in history, piece by piece.

LIFE’s debut features one of the most famous stars of the 20th century: Marilyn Monroe. You will find colorful and creative images by LIFE photographers Alfred Eisenstaedt, Ed Clark, JR Eyerman, Michael Rougier and more featuring the world’s most famous blonde in the new puzzle set.

“We are happy that now our players have the unique opportunity to ‘witness’ the greatest events and plunge into the heart of history by playing their favorite puzzle game,” said ZiMAD CEO Dmitry Bobrov. “Magic Jigsaw Puzzles is the world’s largest digital collection of puzzles, and LIFE is one of the greatest private photographic archives in the United States. Through digitalization, such a partnership contributes to sharing of the cultural heritage of an entire generation.”

The new LIFE-themed puzzle sets will be free for all players. ZiMAD is also planning to update the collection with more images from the LIFE archive.

Collect your first puzzle now:
Google Play Store
App Store

Looking Good: Dime-Store Fashions

January 25, 2023January 25, 2023 by Bill Syken

The most famous story in the Aug. 8, 1949 issue of LIFE magazine introduced America to an artist named Jackson Pollock, posing the question, “Is this the most famous living painter in the United States?” A few pages away, the magazine also ran an unrelated story which included images from the Museum of Modern Art —with the point of these photos being how sophisticated a model could look outfitted in clothes bought (surprise!) at a five-and-ten.

The low-cost variety store had been around since the late 1800s and took off as a retail concept in the middle of the 20th century. LIFE’s story celebrated the stores as much as the clothing, opening with the declaration, “To visitors from abroad one of the perennial marvels of America is the five-and-ten crammed with household articles.”

Of particular interest to LIFE was the improving quality of the five-and-ten’s clothing selections. “They have proved as fast—and three to four times as cheap—as many a department store at copying simple fashions,” LIFE said.

As proof LIFE ran a fashion spread in which every item came from a five-and-ten and cost $2.00 or less. (The two-dollar price tag translates to $24.59 in 2023 dollars). Some fashions came from the original five-and-ten store, Woolworth’s, (The retail chain went out of business in 1987).

While the clothing was inexpensive, the pedigree for LIFE’s shoot was high-end. Legendary staff photographer Nina Leen was behind the camera while top model Jean Patchett posed for the pictures. The resulting photos are a tribute to the talents of both, as well as to the quality of the discount store wares. Some pictures here are outtakes from the original shoot, but the photos that ran in the original story include prices in the captions for each dime-store purchase.

Jean Patchett modeling earrings (25 cents), a necklace (94 cents), a bracelet ($1.00) and earrings (25 cents), setting off a white rayon blouse (98 cents) for a story on dime-store fashion, 1949.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jean Patchett modeling a dime-store outfit, featuring a cotton sun dress (59 cents) accessorized with a gold kid belt (59 cents), a choker ($1.24), and three costume bracelets (75 cents), 1949.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Model Jean Patchett wearing a dime-store hot weather costume that cost a total of $3.41, including the rough-straw bonnet for 45 cents, the blouse and dirndl for 98 cents each, and the $1.00 basket bag.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Model Jean Patchett wearing bracelets that cost a nickel each, for a story on dime-store fashions, 1949.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jean Patchett modeling a belt (79 cents), gloves ($1.00) and bracelets ($1.50) that set off a more expensive black dress for a story on dime-store fashion, 1949.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jean Patchett modeling huge Woolworth earrings (25 cents), a beret ($1), and pearl-and-rhinestone clips (50 cents) for a story on dime-store fashions, 1949.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Model Jean Patchett wearing a bathing suit fashioned from three allway scarves that cost a total of $1.98, from a shoot on dime-store fashions, 1949.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

LIFE story on fashions from the ten-cent store, 1949.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

LIFE story on fashions from the ten-cent store, 1949.

Woman wearing dress, United States, July 1949

LIFE story on fashions from the ten-cent store, 1949.

Model wearing affordable jewelry as accessories in United States, July 1949.

The Nixons at Disneyland—with Clint Eastwood, 1959

January 25, 2023January 25, 2023 by Bill Syken

In 1959 the first Disney theme park, which had opened to great fanfare in 1955, was already an international sensation. When Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev toured the U.S. that year and was in California, he asked if he could visit Disneyland—and was denied. ‘Why not?” he complained in a speech. “What is it? Do you have rocket-launching pads there?’ ”

No, but Disneyland did upgrade its entertainment arsenal that year, and when it did it invited another politician, U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon, to come celebrate the park’s new attractions. Disneyland was debuting the Matterhorn, the Submarine Voyage, and also the monorail that would become a Disney theme park signature (and also the basis for a beloved episode of The Simpsons).

Nixon came with his wife and daughters, and he stood side by side with Walt Disney for the monorail’s ribbon-cutting ceremony—though Nixon handed the giant ceremonial scissors to his daughters to cut the actual ribbon.

Nixon and Walt Disney then sat next to each other in the front row of a grandstand and watched a parade that celebrated all things Disney. While Nixon was the star guest that day, other notables included television host Art Linkletter, Broadway composer Meredith Willson, and an up-and-coming actor named Clint Eastwood.

The photos that Ralph Crane shot that day focus understandably on the parade, the park, the Vice President and Walt Disney. But his picture of Nixon and Eastwood together can’t help but jump out in this photoset, not only because they are each in their own way major figures, but because Disneyland is not the most obvious place to find either of them individually, let alone as a pair. Nixon would gain infamy as the only U.S. President ever resign, after the details of the Watergate scandal came to light. Eastwood would make his name as the gun-wielding star of Sergio Leone’s westerns and his signature Dirty Harry movies before becoming an Oscar-winning director.

This meeting at Disneyland caught both men in a period of transition. Nixon was about to launch his first run for President—he would lose to John F. Kennedy in 1960 before winning the office in 1968. For Eastwood, meanwhile, 1959 was the year his star first began to rise, playing Rowdy Yates in television show Rawhide. His first leading movie role, in A Fistful of Dollars, was still five years away.

And there they were, at Disneyland. In Ralph Crane’s photo Eastwood slyly smiles at the camera. Perhaps his look simply reflects the glee of a young star enjoying his new orbit. But he also looks like a guy who knows there are bigger things ahead.

Vice President Richard Nixon with his family at Disneyland at festivities to welcome new attractions, 1959.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Clint Eastwood (right) with the Vice President Richard Nixon and his family during festivities to welcome new attractions at Disneyland, 1959.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Vice President Richard Nixon and family having ice cream at Disneyland, Anaheim, California, during a day of festivities to honor new attractions, 1959.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Vice President Richard Nixon with his family at Disneyland at festivities to welcome the monorail and other new attractions, 1959.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Vice President Richard Nixon with his family at Disneyland at festivities to welcome new attractions, 1959.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Vice President Richard Nixon with his family led a parade at Disneyland, 1959.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Walt Disney (left) and Vice President Richard Nixon (right) with his family watching a parade at Disneyland, 1959.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A parade at Disneyland, 1959.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A parade at Disneyland, 1959, with Walt Disney and Vice President Richard Nixon visible in the background.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Walt Disney (left) and Vice President Richard Nixon with his family at Disneyland watching a parade.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Vice President Richard M. Nixon and family watched parade at Disneyland with Walt Disney, 1959.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Richard M. Nixon and family with Walt Disney during the ribbon-cutting for the new monorail train at Disneyland, 1959.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Remembering the Historic All-Black “Hello, Dolly!” from 1967

January 18, 2023January 18, 2023 by Bill Syken

The musical Hello, Dolly! made its Broadway debut in 1964 and was an instant smash with Carol Channing in the title role. Three years later, when ticket sales were starting to slump, producer David Merrick retooled with an entirely black cast that featured Pearl Bailey as the lead and Cab Calloway as her love interest. The move was such a success that it landed Bailey on the cover of LIFE. And it also drew the attention of the sitting U.S. President.

LIFE said that with the new cast, “the performances have sharpened up. The dancing has extra snap, as if the hoofers are trying to outdo their excellent predecessors.” Pearl Bailey, it said, had the perfect temperament for the role of Dolly and “feels at home in every word.”

Audiences agreed. Clive Barnes, the powerful New York Times critic, raved about the show, in which he said Bailey drew show-stopping applause from the audience: “For Miss Bailey this was a Broadway triumph for the history books…She took the whole musical in her hands and swung it around her neck as easily as if it were a feather boa.”

Interestingly, Bailey told LIFE that when she signed on as Dolly, she was not told anything about the racial composition of the rest of the cast. The choice to use only Black actors was not without its dissenters—including Frederick O’Neal, who was the first Black president of Actor’s Equity and felt that a mixed-race cast would be more in line with the goal of integration. LIFE also cited white critics who found the idea of an all-black cast condescending, and mentioned that some wondered if this might lead to an all-white Porgy and Bess.

Bailey’s response to LIFE was: “If anyone was worried about integration, why didn’t they worry about it at the time of the first Dolly?”

Bailey’s performance earned her a special Tony award (as a replacement she wasn’t eligible for a standard nomination). When Bailey and the cast performed at the ceremony they were introduced by Carol Channing, who graciously raved about the success Bailey was having with her signature role.

Among those who came to see the production was Lyndon Johnson. He already had a connection to the musical from his 1964 presidential campaign, when Channing sang “Hello, Lyndon!” at the 1964 Democratic Convention. For this new production Johnson and his wife Lady Bird visited with Bailey and came on stage after a performance. LIFE said that this was the first time a U.S. President had appeared on a theatrical stage before an audience.

Bailey continued in the role until Hello, Dolly! closed its original run in 1970. She returned to a new production of the show in 1975, one that had been especially designed for her.

Pearl Bailey during a curtain call for the Broadway production of Hello, Dolly! in 1967.

John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shuttertstock

Pearl Bailey in a Broadway production of Hello, Dolly! when she took over the lead role in 1967.

John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shuttertstock

Jack Crowder and Pearl Bailey in the 1967 Broadway production of Hello, Dolly!

John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shuttertstock

Jack Crowder and Emily Yancy were part of the all-Black cast in the 1967 Broadway production of Hello, Dolly!

John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shuttertstock

Cab Calloway and daughter Chris, who both appeared in the 1967 Broadway production of Hello, Dolly! in 1967.

John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shuttertstock

Cab Calloway and Pearl Bailey performed in the 1967 production of Hello, Dolly!

John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shuttertstock

The 1967 production of “Hello Dolly” at the St. James Theater in New York.

John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shuttertstock

President Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife Lady Bird (center) with actors Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway after a performance of Hello Dolly, 1967.

John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shuttertstock

President Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife Lady Bird with Pearl Bailey (right) after a performance of Hello, Dolly!, 1967.

John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shuttertstock

Pearl Bailey (left) and Cab Calloway (right) with President Lyndon Johnson and wife Lady Bird at a production of Hello, Dolly! that featured an all-Black cast, 1967.

John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shuttertstock

Lyndon Johnson and wife Lady Bird with Pearl Bailey and the rest of the cast of the musical Hello, Dolly! at the St. James Theater in New York, 1967.

John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shuttertstock

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